Public companies among FIT Hon Teng Limited's (HKG:6088) largest stockholders and were hit after last week's 5.9% price drop

Key Insights

• Significant control over FIT Hon Teng by public companies implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd. owns 73% of the company
• Using data from analyst forecasts alongside ownership research, one can better assess the future performance of a company

If you want to know who really controls FIT Hon Teng Limited (HKG:6088), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 73% to be precise, is public companies. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

As a result, public companies as a group endured the highest losses last week after market cap fell by HK$1.1b.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of FIT Hon Teng.

Check out our latest analysis for FIT Hon Teng

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About FIT Hon Teng?

Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.

Less than 5% of FIT Hon Teng is held by institutional investors. This suggests that some funds have the company in their sights, but many have not yet bought shares in it. If the business gets stronger from here, we could see a situation where more institutions are keen to buy. It is not uncommon to see a big share price rise if multiple institutional investors are trying to buy into a stock at the same time. So check out the historic earnings trajectory, below, but keep in mind it's the future that counts most.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in FIT Hon Teng. Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 73% of shares outstanding. With such a huge stake in the ownership, we infer that they have significant control of the future of the company. With 5.9% and 0.6% of the shares outstanding respectively, Sung-Ching Lu and Macquarie Investment Management Business Trust are the second and third largest shareholders. Sung-Ching Lu, who is the second-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Chief Executive Officer.

Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of FIT Hon Teng

The definition of company insiders can be subjective and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.

I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions.

We can report that insiders do own shares in FIT Hon Teng Limited. The insiders have a meaningful stake worth HK$1.1b. Most would see this as a real positive. Most would say this shows alignment of interests between shareholders and the board. Still, it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 18% stake in FIT Hon Teng. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Public Company Ownership

Public companies currently own 73% of FIT Hon Teng stock. This may be a strategic interest and the two companies may have related business interests. It could be that they have de-merged. This holding is probably worth investigating further.

Next Steps:

I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too.

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can access this interactive graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow, for free.

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.